


The Runaway Rails

by kmvb



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Haught Prompts, M/M, Train Murder Mystery, Twitter: WayHaught Weekly Prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23337202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kmvb/pseuds/kmvb
Summary: “What do you have for us, Sheriff?” Dolls asked“A homicide took place last night on the Purgatory railroad tracks.” Nicole opened the manila folder and lined the crime scene photos across the table. “A locomotive hit an elderly woman, Margaret Davis, and killed her instantaneously.”“And you think this was a supernatural killing, Haught?” He examined the pictures of the woman’s bloody and bruised face laid out on the table.“There were no trains scheduled for that time.” Nicole picked through the pile, locating the picture of the railroad tracks. “And the Alberta Transportation Department ruled the railway unsafe over twenty years ago. The tracks are so rusty that the weight of any train passing over them at even a moderate speed would crush the tracks."
Relationships: Jeremy Chetri/Robin, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	1. The Legend of Engine 77

**Author's Note:**

> I found myself with some extra time on my hands, so I figured I would take a stab at this WayHaught prompt (though this fic does not have an emphasis on Wayhaught, but it's just all around fun!). Hopefully it will derail you from the current situation as you are transported to the world of Purgatory.
> 
> Just because I like Dolls, he is alive in this one. For no real reason =)

Chapter 1: The Legend of Train Seventy-Seven.

The silver moon lay at the top of the sky as its buttermilk glow illuminating the quiet, empty town. An elderly woman stalked through the town, though she knew she should have been fast asleep. She followed the shining glow through the desolate Ghost River Triangle streets. Dirty, tungsten lightbulbs shined from within the Purgatory Main Street lampposts like fireballs in the distance. 

Her unsteady steps continued one after another as she bounded toward the town center. She focused on her destination and not her journey, not the cracks in the sidewalks or the potholes in the pavement. She had not she stepped into Purgatory for years and part of her wished she still never returned. But her grandson was graduating from High School in the spring and pleaded for her presence at the ceremony. 

Without warning, the smell of rubber and oil scorched her nostrils. Her white sneakers vibrated as the ground below her shook, as if an earthquake was cracking the earth’s core centimeters below. Perplexed, her eyes darted through the darkness in a desperate attempt to find the sudden disturbance. A loud clickety-clack filled her eardrums, preceded by a brash squeak.  
Her head snapped toward the sound of the oncoming train only seconds before the locomotive pummeled into her. 

“Wynonna, get in here!” Xavier Dolls screamed from the Black Badge office as the haphazard group of misfits gathered around the shiny conference table.

“I was just getting coffee, sheesh.” Wynonna complained. She ushered into the room in her tight leather jacket and barely there crop top, the stench of whiskey wafting in beside her.

“Coffee, or whiskey?” Dolls’s eyes glanced into the cup, the amber liquid staring back at him.

“What’s with the stick up his ass today?” Wynonna sunk into the chair between her sister, Waverly Earp, and the science brains of the operation, Jeremy Chetri. She rocked on two legs of her chair, stretching her muddy leather cowboy boots against the shiny conference table. 

The tall main ignored the halfway to drunk woman’s lewd comments and instead took his seat at the head of the table. “What do you have for us, Sheriff?”

“A homicide took place last night on the Purgatory railroad tracks.” Nicole opened the manila folder and lined the crime scene photos across the table. “A locomotive hit an elderly woman, Margaret Davis, and killed her instantaneously.”

“And you think this was a supernatural killing, Haught?” Dolls examined the pictures of the woman’s bloody and bruised face laid out on the table. 

“There were no trains scheduled for that time.” Nicole picked through the pile, locating the picture of the railroad tracks. “The Alberta Transportation Department ruled the railway unsafe over twenty years ago. The tracks are so rusty that the weight of any train passing over them at even a moderate speed would crush the tracks. But I inspected the tracks this morning and they look to be in the same condition as when I moved here over a decade ago.”

“Do you think the kill was supernatural?” Jeremy turned away from the graphic pictures displayed on the table. 

The sheriff shrugged her shoulders. “There is no other explanation”

Doc Holliday, yes that Doc Holliday, tipped the brim of his cowboy hat, exposing his smoldering blue eyes. He shifted his cigarette from underneath his moustache adorned lip to the corner of his mouth. “Have I told you about the time I worked for the railroad?”

Wynonna pounded her feet against the ground of their office in the police station in disbelief. “He gets to smoke on the job, but I can’t drink.”

“Here we go again,” Waverly muttered. Nicole’s lips turned to a grin from her wife’s disdain. 

“It’s not even lit!” Doc spit the cigarette onto the table to prove a point. 

“Come on, Wynonna. You know Doc just has an oral-” The young man bit his lip as soon as the words spilled from his mouth. “Shut up Jeremy, can’t you ever just keep your mouth shut?”

Dolls groaned in frustration at his team. “Please continue, Doc, if you believe it could help us with the case.”

“As I was saying before Wynonna interrupted,” Doc glared at the eldest Earp. “One-hundred-fifty years ago, I trained to be a conductor for the rails. Trains were the new and quickest way to transport goods cross-country. Jobs were in chief supply. Most students quit school and worked the rails for extra cash.”

“Get to the point, Doc,” Wynonna complained. “I need to make it to happy hour at Shorty’s.”

“You aren’t going anywhere until we get this case solved.” Dolls lectured. “Continue Doc.”

“Okay,” He took a deep breath. “I was training alongside a man named Alexander Jones. He was just two years my senior, but he had been a conductor for the Alberta Cross Continental Rails for over a year. One day, I had a terrible cough and missed my shift. It is said that Alexander went mad and drove his train off the tracks. We never saw him or his train again. I heard rumors he drove it straight into-”

“The ocean?” Jeremy asked.

“No, Jeremy, you know, the place we sent the seventy-seven revenants!” Wynonna rolled her eyes.

“Hell, Jeremy,” Robin answered for his boyfriend, ignoring the brunette’s snide remarks. 

“That is correct, Robin.” Doc agreed. “It is said he drove straight into the underworld. Legend has it that every seventeen years, Engine 77 comes back, with mad Alexander at his wheel. It is said it will draw anyone who worked with Alexander into the train through a blinding white light. The light will hypnotize them, and a potent smell will draw them inside. Some classify it as the smell of a bakery, while others say it smells as rotten fruit. Once the train begins its decent, shrieks and moans fill the cars, sending chills through the passenger’s hearts. Within just seconds of travel, the passengers feel flames licking the walls of the cars, then the train comes to a complete stop. The doors open, and the devil himself drags the passengers from the train.”

“Is it the devil or is it BoBo Del Ray?” Wynonna joked.

“Waverly,” Doc asked. “What year is it?”

“March 7, 2029,” Waverly intoned.

“Shit,” Doc swore, “The 153rd year anniversary is tonight!” 

“Who else could be alive from the 1800s? I mean, besides Doc.” Nicole spoke. 

“What if Margaret was a relative of someone from that time?” Waverly’s eyes locked into Nicole’s.

“I should be able to use the police database to figure out if there was a connection between her and the railroad company.” The redhead expressed. 

“Do you need some help?” Waverly suggested.

“I could always use your expertise.” Nicole nodded. Within an instant, the couple had dashed out of the office.

“Looks like it’s up to us to go check out those train tracks.” Dolls commanded. “Doc, do you remember where the station is?”

“Yes, good sir, that I do.”

“Okay, saddle up boys.” Dolls skated around the room, gathering a few Black Badge supplies.A smirk tickled Robin’s lips. “It’s about to get loco in here! Get it, loco, like the train, but also crazy in Spanish?”  
“It’s not funny if you have to explain it,” Wynonna interjected. 

“Ah,” Jeremy tripped over the chair’s leg, his boyfriend catching him from the fall. “I think I will go help Waverly and Nicole. They could use my brains.”

“Jeremy,” Wynonna planted her hand on the inexperienced man’s shoulders. “Trust, me, I have been there and done that. Do not go into that office.”

“Who’s idea was it to investigate the rails at night?” Jeremy questioned. Night fell over the quiet city of Purgatory as Doc lead them passed the train tracks to the loading station.

“I had to take care of Alice!” Wynonna argued. “She got in trouble for bringing a condom to school.”

“And who’s fault was that?” Dolls’s eyes lit up with bolts of blood red. 

“Doc’s!” Wynonna accused without a breath of hesitation. “I don’t use condoms. You know that!”

“And who had to stop at Shorty’s for a drink after her discussion with the principal?” Doc tipped his cigarette with his finger, the ashes crumbling onto the road’s edge. Together they stepped off the roads tar and into the pine-needled ground, tracing the rusted railroad tracks with their own path. 

“Yup, no train, let’s go.” Jeremy shouted, his eyes wide with worry. “I can’t wait to tell Robin he missed a bunch of nothing!”

“Not so fast,” Dolls clutched onto the younger man’s sweater and tugged him away from the tracks. “We have to wait longer than thirty seconds.”

A crooked smile raced onto the eldest Earp’s face. “Do you remember when I used to call Champ Nine Seconds? Good times, good times.”

“What if Waverly was still in a relationship with that asshole?” The lizard man asked as he tucked under a low hanging tree branch, a cobweb smacking him in his face. He shook his head in disgust. 

“I want to know the answer to that question,” Nicole asked as her flashlight lit the soil sinking beneath her feet. 

“Hey baby girl!” Wynonna ignored the woman with a Twizzler in her ass. “You made it.”

“We had a hard time getting Wes to sleep.” She shrugged. “We think he is teething.”

“You will not be breast feeding for too much longer!” Her elder sister harassed. “Because those little fuckers hurt.”

“Why did we choose her to be the godmother?” Nicole snipped.

“Guys!” Dolls yelled as the conversation derailed. “We have a job to do.”

“Right, sorry.” Wynonna rolled her eyes. Why was everyone so focused on work?

“Oh yes, sorry!” Waverly responded. “Nicole and I found something during our research.”

“Okay, continue.” Doc dropped the small nub of his cigarette onto the ground, then crushed it underneath the rubber sole of his boot.

“There was a connection between the victim and the suspect.” Nicole announced. 

Waverly continued: “Her great-great-grandfather worked for the same railroad company as Alexander.”

“Do you know if they worked together?” Jeremy questioned.

“We can only assume they worked together.” Waverly said.

“Okay, great,” Dolls said. “Now we can assume the homicide was supernatural.” 

“That’s not it.” Nicole continued. “We found only one other person still in the Ghost River Triangle has connections to that company. And that is none other than-”

“Me,” Doc said, shoving his cowboy hat further onto his head. “Looks like I will journey back to hell.”

“Doc,” Waverly responded, her voice threatening him from his pessimistic tone. “We will not let that happen.”

“I mean look,” Jeremy twisted his body around to look left and right. “There’s no train.”

“Then what’s that?” Wynonna asked, pointing off into the far-off distance. 

A bright white light burns into their cornea’s. A shrieking whistle sounds, scaring a flock of birds from their perch in the tall elm. The ground shook and vibrated underneath them, as if the ground underneath them just ripped in an earthquake. A black steam locomotive barreled closer to them, slamming its squealing breaks in such a tone that Nicole pressed her fingertips against her ears to check if they were bleeding. The passenger railcar halted in front of them.

“I think we found our train,” Dolls breathed as the doors fling open and a blinding white light shined like an LED flashlight held in his eyes. 

“Should we?” Wynonna looked towards her leader, who nodded his head toward the train.

“Well, we found the train,” Jeremy shuttered. “I think it’s time we go home.”

Dolls ignored the smaller man’s whine. “We have to figure this out.”

“But we should make this asshole go first,” The eldest Earp suggested. Without waiting for a response, she shoved Doc Holliday into the railroad carriage. Dolls followed right after, dragging Jeremy by the hood of his thin spring jacket.   
“After you,” Nicole held her arm out as an aid Waverly’s short legs with the high step.   
The redhead’s vision derailed and traveled southbound at the picturesque view of her wife’s rear. As she jumped onto the train, her body collided with the shorter woman.

“I saw that,” Waverly muttered.

“We all did, Haught,” Wynonna cried. “You two are so obvious! And gross!”

Before the sheriff could utter an argument, the metal doors hauled shut and locked them inside the cab. The train plunged forward, inching ahead at an electrifying pace. The floor under the group hummed, and the seats rattled with the unsteady motion. Dolls gripped onto the door handle and attempted to yank it open, but to no avail.

“Great, we’re stuck.” Jeremy muttered. “I knew I should have called in sick today.”

Without warning, the lights inserted into the ceiling flickered like an old-western movie reel, but this was not a theater. The group look from one another, their faces now strobed as they moved in blinking, stilled images. Nicole’s arm found purchase on Waverly’s waist, dragging her close to protect her. 

“We have Doc Holliday!” Wynonna called; her voice muffled under the loud cry of the train. One by one the lightbulbs overhead popped, enveloping their bodies into total darkness. “Take him, not me!”


	2. Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just had some real fun writing this short little ficlet (do people still call it that?) I feel like the prompt was a great way to exercise my creative brain. Hope you enjoy!

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire.

“Do you smell that?” Jeremy asked, his nose crinkling as the smell of burning flesh reaches his nostrils.

“Whoever smelt it, dealt it,” The eldest Earp replied with an unseen snicker.

“No,” Nicole argued. “It smells like-”

“Burnt flesh.” The youngest woman responded. Her eyes followed the black shadow as it creeped toward the window. 

“It’s getting warmer too,” Dolls agreed as he mirrored Doc’s movement and leaned against the windows. Red embers flash against the glass as they embarked into the burning inferno. 

“That’s it, I’m going to hell.” Wynonna muttered. 

The fabricated metal beast came to a sudden stop. Dolls and Doc’s foreheads smashed into the foggy window pane, and Nicole flailed forward, her long leg reaching out in time to collide with the floor and stopping her and Waverly from falling. The doors flung open as smoke swirling into the cabin and choking each of the passengers. 

“Do we go out?” Jeremy asked, his face glowing an orangish red. 

“Don’t move.” Dolls commanded. “If we get off this train, we can’t get home. So, stay here.”

Waverly’s eyes danced around the decrepit carriage as she analyzed the corroded iron and tacky upholstery. A glimmering metal in the cabin's corner caught her attention. Without hesitation, she dashed toward the container.

“I got an idea,” The youngest Earp spoke. She tugged the fire extinguisher off the wall, the black plastic affixing it to the train breaking in her strength. Taking a deep breath of fresh oxygen, she rumbled toward the open door, flames licking at her face and scorching her hair. She jerked the thin pin from the canister and aimed the tube toward the flaming floor. Squeezing the trigger, gaseous contents fired at the ashes, like a torpedo launching toward the enemy and destroying everything in its path. As the room darkened, the fire turned to a smokey steam, a shadow solidified in front of them. 

“I see him!” Jeremy huddled behind the ripped fabric chair; danger terrified him. Without waiting for a command, Wynonna jerked her Colt Buntline special from her belt strap and aimed it at the shadow. The golden metal bullet rocketed from the chamber with supersonic speed toward the silhouette, but instead of falling to the ground, an angry shriek resounded across the metal carriage.

“What the hell was that?” Dolls cried, smacking his hand on his forehead in frustration. “What did you think? Did you think the bullet would send him to hell! Well, guess what? He lives there!”

Beside him, Waverly wrapped her arm around her mouth, choking from the smoke inhalation. Nicole pulled her in close, hoping to shelter her from the incoming fumes. 

“What else are we going to do?” Wynonna shouted.

Doc stepped closer toward the door with as he puffed smoke from the cigarette in the corner of his lips. He held his jacket wide, offering the explosives stashed in its hidden pockets. “I got dynamite.”

“Oh, because that will work.” The eldest Earp rolled her eyes. She jerked the transgression from his mouth and chucked it into the flaming abyss.

A shrill whistling scream cut through the group like a thick shard of glass. Nicole’s pulse quickened and her heart thudded around her ribs as if it were a prisoner in a cage desperate for an escape. The figure expanded as it zoomed toward the group. As its outline came into view, Waverly took in his eyes wide with anger, his mouth rigid and open, and his chalky face gaunt and immobile. One of his fists clenched with his blanched knuckles, while the other dug into the metal doorframe. 

“Who dare dispose their debris on the floor of my home?” He shouted. His breath reminded the youngest Earp of rotten eggs, choking the life out of her. Nicole’s eyes watered from the stench, but Dolls glared at the eldest Earp, threatening her next words. Instead, she pointed over at Doc.

“It was her!” Doc spoke, pointing his own index finger at the Earp woman. 

Wynonna bit back. “It was your cigarette.”

“Doc Holliday!” The man recognized. He took a colossal step into the cabin, smoke and odor traveling beside him. Fire licked at the bottom of his pants as if it was a hungry kitten with a saucer of milk. Plumes of black, grey smoke wound itself around his leg like a hungry snake. “You still smoking like a chimney?”

“Alexander,” Doc raised his cowboy hat in respect. “You’re looking-”

“Like I’ve been burnt alive for every second of my afterlife, smoke filling my lungs and my body gasping for breath?”

“No?” Doc responded. “You look great for your age.”

“You!” Alexander thrust himself at Doc, shoving him against the back wall. The flames tickled the cowboy’s leg, tasting his jeans and sniffing his skin. “I have been waiting for a century!”

“Me?” Doc called. “I was your friend, your coworker-”

“You infected me!” He spit, his saliva puffing out of his mouth as like dried ash. “It was because of you I died.”

“Great,” Wynonna interrupted. “Now that you have him you can let us go.”

“Wynonna…” Nicole lectured in her warning tone. The eldest Earp clapped her mouth shut, wrapping her arms around her chest in disdain. 

“I did this?” Doc’s face paled as he recalled his long, long-term memories. “I do not remember-”

“Do not remember what?” He shoved his burnt finger into Doc’s face. “That you chain smoking eight hours a day caused my death? You are the reason I died, Doc Holliday! My lungs were not strong enough to inhale your nicotine infested breath every day of my life. Each day we worked together, it felt as though I was being stabbed in my chest. Until, I started wheezing and coughing up blood. And I vowed to haunt you every day of your life until I got my revenge.”

“What?” Doc quizzed. “I did not… I did not know that I was hurting you.”

“And you still are hurting everyone around you!” He hissed; his voice laced with venom.

“No, I did not,” He tried again. “I can quit. I did not know I was killing-”

“That’s right, Doc, you are a murderer. Always have been and always will be.” He shook his head. “What did Wyatt ever see in you?”

“I did not know,” Doc cried. “I can quit. I will quit!”

“It's too late now,” He shouted. “Are you ready to feel the way I felt right before I died? Gasping for my last breath? Hungry for oxygen? This is how I felt before you killed me.”

Alexander pressed his forearm against Doc’s neck, blocking his air passages. As he watched the light fade from the cowboy’s eyes, a smirk crossed his face. The last thing the cowboy felt was a light prick to his arm, before he fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“Holy shit,” Wynonna coughed from the inhalation. “Can we go home? My lungs are collapsing!”

“This isn’t even actual smoke!” Nicole reminded. “Its fog machines, Wynonna,. We used these machines for Halloween last year.”

“Oh, is that why I’m feeling high?” She smirked. She walked over to Alexander, her elbow nudging the scorched man in the stomach. “And this guy… Jeremy, let Robin wear this in the bedroom.”

“No, fuck no,” Jeremy said, shivers running across his spine as he glanced at the ghost. Alexander tugged at his neck, the rubber mask separating from his skin and falling to the ground. “That mask is horrifying.”“The fire extinguisher was an excellent idea, Waves,” Robin complimented as the fog from the room cleared. “I had a hard time seeing through the mask’s small eyeholes. I hadn’t a clue you arrived.”

“Plus, the flashing red lights and heaters couldn’t have helped.”

“No they didn’t,” Robin agreed. “But we did it. And this was perfect to help me practice acting for the play for the Purgatory Seniors next week.”

“For the play?” Wynonna chuckled. “You know who we really did this for, right?”

“Alice and Wes,” Waverly reminded. “Because he cannot keep smoking in the house. It’s not good for their young lungs.”

“That’s right.” Wynonna nodded. “Now let’s go home. I need sleep before my daughter wakes me up at the crack of dawn! Dolls, you take Doc.”

“What? Why me?” Dolls whined.

“How was your night last night, you handsome devil?” Jeremy asked as Doc streaked into the Black Badge Office. 

“I had the strangest dream,” Doc said, kicking his feet up onto the desk. Bags filled under his darkened, sleepy eyes. “I think it was a dream. It felt so real.”

“You want to talk about it?” Robin slid into the seat beside Doc. 

“Just tell me one thing.” Doc asked. “Waverly, have we been researching someone named Alexander?”

“No, Doc,” Waverly bit her lip to keep a smile from forming on her face. “Do you need me to research him?”

“No, no,” Doc removed his hat and ran an uncomfortable hand through her greasy hand. 

“Oh!” Wynonna sashayed into the room with a tray of coffees in her hands. “The gang is here! And look what I brought!”

Dolls swept into the room; a dozen donuts box held like a platter. 

“Sometimes we get donuts!” She winked at her boss.

“Oh, donuts!” Nicole cheered. She leaned on the door frame, her thumbs slipping through her belt hoops. “What is Black Badge celebrating today?”

“Does anyone have anything to celebrate?” Jeremy asked as his eyes wandered around the table, stopping at Doc.

“Nothing besides my lack of sleep,” Doc grumbled.

“Hey Holliday, are you missing something?” Dolls asked. “I know it will be an outstanding day when Wynonna isn’t drinking and you aren’t smoking in the office.”

“Yeah,” Doc sighed. “I think I will stop.”

“Stop what?” Robin asked. 

“Smoking,” Doc said. “It’s not good for me or anyone else. And now we have Alice and Wes in the homestead.”

“Really?” Wynonna asked, her ears perking up from his admittance. “I’ve been asking you for two years now. What made you change your mind?”

“Something came to me last night.” He shrugged.

“Well, we will support you,” Waverly said, reaching forward and slipping her hand into Doc’s.

“Wait,” Wynonna said, twisting around and locking eyes with the boss. “If he’s not smoking in the office, does that mean that I can’t drink either?”

A glimmer twinkled into Doll’s eyes, and a smile burned his face. “Looks like we all got what we wanted, huh, Wynonna?” 

The sun ducked underneath the horizon as nighttime twisted back again. One by one the Purgatory streets emptied, as children were tucked in and adults looked for solace from the crisp breeze. With only the starlight, moon and the few streetlights, the blackness extended from one side of the town to the other. A small squirrel rustled through the dead grass, contrasting against the bone chilling silence. 

The clean air wisped away as a putrid smell of burning rubber and oil filled the streets. The cracked tar vibrated with such a strong intensity, scaring the small flock of birds looking for a midnight snack. A clickety clack shook the store’s windowpanes, followed by a brash squeak of the locomotive’s brakes. The train sped through the quiet town, disturbing its citizens from their peaceful slumber, with a grinning Alexander at the helm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know if you enjoyed below! It gives me motivation to keep writing!
> 
> Find me on twitter @FailedShipper91

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment or kudo below! And stay safe out there!


End file.
